Companies that produce large volumes of mailpieces, such as service bureaus, financial institutions, insurance, utilities, etc., recognize the importance of optimizing the manufacturing process that prepares the mailpieces or mail items for delivery to the post office for mailing. These companies may produce millions of mailpieces per day, so even a small reduction in the production cost or postage cost per each mailpiece could save resources and reduce costs.
However, the conventional techniques are severely limited to the extent that some of the techniques serve as a barrier to cost savings, such as using preprinted envelopes which can require a stock change at an inserter and force jobs to be split when a different envelope is needed. Further, typically, envelopes have not been considered a part of the mailpiece that can be personalized for each recipient.